Experiments in Installation: Part V

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Experiment Station

(Left) Red Chimneys, 1918, by Charles Demuth alongside photographs by Alfred Stieglitz. (Right) Albert Pinkham Ryder’s Macbeth and the Witches, mid- 1890′s. Photos: Joshua Navarro

Edited to add: This is the fifth in a series of posts from University of Virginia graduate student Tom Winters on his class’s experience installing works from our permanent collection in the Main Gallery. See parts one, two, three, and four.

After several weeks deliberating over wall texts and agonizing over potential substitutions that we might effect within our ensemble of works, this week finally sees some action. You will notice fresh changes in our gallery space. Our wall texts continue to accrete, each one composed with the aim of establishing links between artist, work, and aspects of modernism. More exciting, however, are the two new artworks that have joined the exhibition. As their addition is necessarily accompanied by the removal of other works, the process has been slightly bittersweet. But only slightly. The team feels satisfied that, in the final balance, our gallery certainly has changed for the better.

First, we’ve added Albert Pinkham Ryder’s Macbeth and the Witches (mid-1890s or later). It is the opening work in our narrative, our research having repeatedly proven Ryder to be a key progenitor of American modernism. To make room for the Ryder, we removed two works by Stuart Davis, an artist whose work was hard to give up but lost out in the final reckoning. Ultimately our group did not find that the works by Davis available to us best represent his quality. Sorry Mr. Davis, we still think you’re great.

Charles Demuth, Red Chimneys, 1918, Watercolor and graphite pencil on medium-weight, medium-textured, off-white, …; 10 1/8 x 14 in.; 25.7175 x 35.56 cm. (sight). Acquired 1925.

Our second addition is Charles Demuth’s Red Chimneys (1918). Demuth’s association with Alfred Stieglitz, one of our seminar’s protagonists, led us to feel that he should be included in our narrative. His work replaces Henri Rousseau’s The Pink Candle (1908). Though Rousseau undoubtedly had some measure of influence on the development of modernism in America, our group decided that his small still life was not contributing much to the theme of our exhibition, pleasing as the piece may be.

Now we’re working on assembling a case of books, catalogues, and Duncan Phillips’s letters. More to come on that in the upcoming weeks.

Tom Winters, UVa graduate student, Department of Art History

Experiments in Installation: Part IV

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Experiment Station

Hornet’s Nest with Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Hills, Lake George (1927) in the Main Gallery. Photo: Joshua Navarro

This is the fourth in a series of posts from University of Virginia graduate student Tom Winters on his class’s experience installing works from our permanent collection in the Main Gallery. See parts one, two, and three.

Exciting new developments have taken place in our installation of the Main Gallery. Our hornet’s nest has now been suitably be-pedestaled and installed in one of the corners of our space, following deliberation over possible locations with Professor Turner last week. Now appropriately objectified and labeled, the hornet’s nest will henceforth be referred to as Hornet’s Nest. We are also delighted that Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Hills, Lake George (1927) has joined our display. It replaces a Stuart Davis painting, though he is still represented with two other works in the gallery. O’Keeffe’s (artistic) relationship with Alfred Stieglitz–one of our main protagonists–makes her work an obvious inclusion in our ensemble; its quality makes it near essential.

Tom Winters, UVa graduate student, Department of Art History

Arthur Dove’s Rain or Snow (1943) with Hornet’s Nest in the Main Gallery. Photo: Joshua Navarro

Hornet’s Nest, up close. Photo: Joshua Navarro

Experiments in Installation: Part III

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Experiment Station

This is the third in a series of posts from University of Virginia graduate student Tom Winters on his class’s experience installing works from our permanent collection in the Main Gallery. See parts one and two.

Meryl Goldstein holds the hornet’s nest. Photo: Tom Winters

Alfred Stieglitz. 291 – Picasso-Braque Exhibition. 1915. Platinum print. 19.4 x 24.4 cm (7 5/8 x 9 5/8 in.) Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949.

Friday, September 14, our second meeting at The Phillips Collection, and the selected pieces are now all in place. However, one more object is set to enter the fray. Professor Turner has procured a hornet’s nest, similar to one seen in a photo of the 1915 Picasso-Braque exhibit at Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery. As we troop through the Phillips with a large hornet’s nest in a cardboard box, we are met with puzzlement and mild consternation from many of the museum’s staff. Professor’s Turner’s protestation that “It’s been cryogenically frozen!” is the catchphrase of the day. The nest is swiftly ushered to conservation. Perhaps hanging this somewhat bizarre object from the ceiling would be not be the best idea. Perhaps the objectification effect of a pedestal is required. We’ll see.

The class reviews their selections and decisions. Photo: Tom Winters

Tom Winters, UVa graduate student, Department of Art History